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m (^vmt m^n faUeiT, in mtntl: 
THE SERMON, 

IN ST. Mary's church, burlington, 

ON THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITT, M DCCC L ; 

THE NEXT AFTER THE DEATH, 
OF 



ZACHARY TAYLOR, 

I 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 



BY 



THE RIGHT REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, D.D., LL.D., 

BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY, 
PRESIDENT OF BURLINGTON COLLEGE. 



iSuiUngton: 

AT THE MISSIONARY PRESS, 

1850. 






^^ff 



Burlington College, July 10th, 1850. 

Dear Father, — Though separated from the arena of political strife, we 
cannot but mourn our great loss, in the removal, from the Executive Chair, 
of so wise a head, so noble a heart, and so strong an arm, as that of Presi- 
dent Taylor. 

Feeling, that his example portrayed to us, and to our countrymen, by 
you, would be a just tribute to his mighty memory, and an impressive 
theme for our instruction, we come to you, as loving children, to a Father ; 
asking you to comfort our hearts, by an expression of our grief, at the 
death of so great, so good, and so wise a man ; so worthy to be a succes- 
sor of the Father and Founder of our glorious Union. 
Ever most faithfully, and fondly your children, 

(Signed by all the Students.) 
The Rt. Rev. the President of the College. 



A SERMON. 



KNOW YE NOT, THAT THERE IS A PRINCE, AND A GREAT MAN, 
FALLEN, THIS DAY, JN ISRAEL ? 

2 SAMUEL, iii. 38. 

In these expressive words, did the great heart of royal 
David pay its tribute, to the vaHant Abner, slain by the 
treachery of Joab. There are few minds, famiUar with the 
Holy Scriptures, into which, they have not sprung, as the 
unbidden comment, on that astounding providence, which 
has stilled the pulses of the nation ; and, to-day, twines 
every altar, in the land, with the funereal cypress. " Know 
ye not" — men say, to one another, as the lightning record 
flashes, through the land, " The President is dead !" — 
"know ye not, that there is a prince, and a great man, fallen, 
this day, in Israel ?" 

Death is the " touch of nature," which, pre-eminently 
"makes the world, all kin." God did not make it. It 
came in, with sin. Yet, we may say, and, still, be reverent, 
that, without it, as men have been, since the Fall, He could 
not live, in His own world. It is the one thing, at which 
nature quails. The fear of it sways the tumultuous Titan 
throngs, that, else, would scale the Heavens. And the 
damp chill, from its black wing, as it sweeps through the 
land, when pestilence falls on it, like a frost ; or when, be- 
side us, but a neighbour dies, is the reminder of our own 
mortality, and the conviction of His dread omnipotence. 

Strange as it is, the snake's old sneer, "Ye shall not 

surely die," still haunts the human heart. We constantly 
1 



forget, that, when we clasp the loved one, to our heart, we 
clasp a skeleton. Age, talents, valour, virtue, rank, pre-em- 
inence, in every age, and every where, deck out, for men, 
their idols. We come to think, that greatness cannot die. 
We marvel, that the bolt should strike the tallest tree. And, 
when the pastor falls, as that meek saint,* who fed, for forty 
years, the little flock, that, then, was tended here ; or the 
physician dies, as that old man,t rare in his virtues, as his 
skill, who, to three generations, plied the healing art, among 
you, welcome to every hearth, men look, with mute amaze- 
ment, on each other ; and the country startles, that a mortal 
should have died ! 

But, chiefly, is the power of this instinctive superstition 
shown, when death strikes down the princes, among men. 
Republicans intuitively feel, that some divinity doth "hedge 
about a king." Who did not feel a shudder crawl across 
his heart, when that young princess, on whom the hopes of 
England hung, all clustered, sank, with her infant, in a 
grave, which seemed, to all, untimely ? When, lately, the 
meek widow of a king passed, from the exercise of all the 
charities of life, into the royal tomb, at Windsor, there 
were everywhere among us, the tokens of a sympathy, 
which touched the heart. And, when, nine years ago, our 
warrior President was borne, in one brief month, from the 
high homestead of the nation, to the sepulchre, beside the 
clear Potomac, what wave, in the broad sea, of our whole 
vast Republic, that was not stirred and tost, as when a wa- 
ter-spout is rent in sunder ? " Know ye not" — was then, as 

•The Rev. Dr. Wharton, Rector of St. Mary's Church, who died ia 1833, 
|Dr. Nathan W, Cole, who died, in 1848. 



now, the instinctive, universal, utterance of the nation's 
startled heart—" know ye not, that there is a prince, and a 
great man, fallen, this day, in Israel ?" 

The worshipping assemblies, of twenty millions, are in 
harmony, with us, to-day. From one end, to the other, of 
our broad land, the electric spark has flashed its fearful 
message, of the nation's loss : till North and South, and East 
and West, are bending, now, with us, over the new made 
grave ; in which, the soldier of three wars, the conqueror 
in all, the patriot hero, the people's President, rests, from his 
honors, and his arms. As, when the Egyptians came, with 
Joseph's corpse, up to the threshing floor of Atad, it is " a 
great, and very sore, lamentation." And, it may well be 
so. For, in the graphic words of David, a man, a great 
man, and a prince, has " fallen this day, in Israel." 

»d man has fallen. I do not mean, a mere, male, human, 
individual. One, whom the tailor, rather than the mantua- 
maker, clothes. A walking thing, that wears a hat. I 
speak of that, which God meant, when He said, " Let us 
make man, in our image, after our likeness." Marred, sad- 
ly, now, by the concussion of that fearful Fall. But, capa- 
ble of restoration, through the Cross. And, justifying well, 
in the renewal of its fair proportions, and its countenance 
erect, the sacred record, " God hath made man upright." 
A man, that has a mind ; and uses it. A man, that has a 
heart; and yields to it. A man, that shapes his circum- 
stances. A man, that cares not for himself. A man, with 
the simplicity of a child. A man, with the directness of a 
child. A man, with the freshness and earnestness of a child. 
A man, in justice. A man, in generosity. A man, in mag- 



8 

nanimity. A man, to meet emergencies. A man, to make 
occasions. A man, to dare, not only ; but to bear. A man, 
of love. A man, without a fear. A thunderbolt, in war. 
A dew drop, in the day of peace. One, that, against the 
fearful odds, of five to one, could sway the battle-storm, at 
Buena Vista. And, then, from the very arms and lap of 
victory, write to one,* whose gallant son had died, to make 
its crown, " when I miss his familiar face, I can say, with 
truth, that 1 feel no exultation, in our success." Truly, a 
man, has "fallen, in Israel." 

And " a great man'^ has fallen. A great man, first, must 
be a man. And, then, must find, or make, the occasion, to 
be great. In every man, that is a man, there is, potentially, 
a great man. He, who has " fallen, this day, in Israel," 
was great, in act. His masterly defence of Fort Harrison, 
when but a captain, in the service, where the terrors of im- 
pending conflagration, were added to the midnight on- 
slaught of the Indians ; his successful conduct of the war, in 
Florida, against the same subtle, tireless, unrelenting foe ; 
the gallant movement to Point Isabel, and back to the en- 
campment at Fort Brown, atchieving Palo Alto and Resaca 
de la Palma, as mere episodes, along the way ; the storming 
and complete possession of Monterey, where every street 
was barricaded, and every house-top bristled with musket- 
ry ; the crowning victory, against such fearful odds, at Bue- 
na Vista ; and, more than that, the clear, calm, quiet, unpre- 
tending, but indomitable, answer, to Santa Anna's insolent 
demand, sustained by twenty thousand men — "Sir, in reply 



■The Hon. Henry Clay. 



10 your note, of this date, summoning me to surrender my 
forces, at discretion, I beg leave to say, that I decline acced- 
ing to your request :" these glorious, but now painful, remi- 
niscences of the military career of him, beside whose grave, 
a nation weeps, assure us, that, in him, a great man, has 
been taken, from our Israel. And, more illustrious, even, 
than, in these, the greatness, that knew how to bear such vic- 
tories ; the greatness, that preserved its equilibrium, in the 
storm of national applause, and universal admiration ; the 
greatness, that could see the proudest palm of human power, 
planted before it, within easiest reach, and not put forth a 
hand, to pluck it; the greatness, that submitted to be made 
the President of these United States, since so the people 
willed ; the greatness, that went on to Washington, and 
took the chair of State, and filled it, with the simple dignity, 
that had directed, from a tent, the ordering of the battle- 
field ; the greatness of moderation; the greatness of modesty; 
the greatness of self-conquest and control : these do but 
wound our bleeding hearts, more deeply, while they swell 
them, with a fuller, higher, admiration of the real greatness, 
of the great man, who has gone from us, to-day. 

And, in him, " a prince'''' lias fallen. A prince, in place. 
The head, as the word simply means, of twenty millions of 
free people ; so constituted and declared, by their own 
choice and act, A prince, in rank. The equal, in his sta- 
tion, of the kings, and emperors, and potentates, of the 
whole world. A prince, in power. The President of the 
United States, legitimately authorized, and constitutionally 
sustained, in acts of influence, and ultimate authority, such 
as no sovereign of Europe has, by any other right, than that 

of mere brute force ; and the exponent of a political and mo- 
2 



10 

ral sway, which, in its growing and pervading power, no 
mere brute force can cope with, or resist. And, in his exer- 
cise of these high functions, and discharge of their resulting 
duties, a prince, in quiet dignity ; a prince, in cahn, indomita- 
ble resolution ; a prince, in utter disregard of consequences, 
when the right is seen, and done. The people's prince, in 
his unostentatious life. The people's prince, in his lament- 
ed death. "Know ye not,"— who does not know, who does 
not feel, who does not own, that it is so ?— " know ye not, 
that there is a prince, and a great man, fallen, this day, in 
Israel ?" " We bury, in his honored tomb," the Union says 
— the journal of our land, which, more than any other, must 
be regarded as the antagonist of his administration — "we 
bury, in his honored tomb, every unkind or unworthy feel- 
ing, which we might ever have entertained. General Tay- 
lor rises before us, in all the glory of the Hero, in all the 
majesty of the Patriot ; whose name is associated with some 
of the most brilliant atchievements in our annals, who has 
carried the fame of his country, to the remotest nations, and 
whose reputation will never die. The name of the Hero of 
Palo Alto, and Bucna Vista, will live, as long as the name 
of the nation, whose standard, he so often bore to victory, 
and glory. These deeds are indelibly written, on the tab- 
let of a nation's gratitude." This is the true outspeaking of 
the heart, when its deep pulses have been deeply touched. 
Such is the moral conquest of a man ; wide as humanity, in 
its extent. Such is the triumph, which a great man ; great, 
in doing, or in suffering, can atchieve : beyond the lus- 
tre of all arms, beyond the splendour of all arts. Such is the 
true and real glory, of the princes, among men : not, in an- 
cestral line; not, in "the boast of heraldry, or pomp of 



11 

power ;" not in the range of territorial empire, or in the mul- 
titude of people, or of nations, which they sway: but, that 
they rule in hearts ; that they are felt, as princes, among 
freemen ; that they possess an empire, which no gold could 
purchase, and no power compel ; the empire of the free,un- 
bought, unforced, affections : and, that, when they have 
passed from power, and passed from hfe, and all that there 
is of them, is so much dust, men, that could know no fear, men, 
that would never flatter, will stand up, by the crumbling 
handful, that is left ; and mourn, as David mourned, for 
Abner ; and weep, as David wept ; and say, as David said, 
before the world, and challenge all the world, for the denial : 
" Know ye not, that there is a prince, and a great man, fal- 
len, this day, in Israel ?" 

And he is gone. And we are left. Left with our duties, 
among men. Left with our responsibilities, to God. Left, 
with our invaluable trust, as patriots. Left, with our immor- 
tal interests, and our inevitable obligations, as Christians. 
This is no place for flattery. This is no place, to come, to 
praise a man. This is no place, for the mere eulogy, even, 
of the honoured and lamented dead. And, could we forget 
the place, if Ae could speak, from out his cerements, in the 
plain, and simple sense, which made him such a man, and 
so became him, as a great man, he would bid us cease, 
from him, and turn, in Christian humility. Christian depend- 
ence. Christian confidence, and Christian devotion, to the 
trusts and duties, which he lived and died, to serve ; and, 
which still lie, on us, enhanced, by the example of his life, 
and increased, by the bereavement of his death. 

Humanly regarded, the death of General Taylor is, to 
this republic, an incalculable loss. To our imperfect vision, 



12 



he seemed, pre-emineniiy, the man, for the occasion. That, 
which so many speak of, and so freely, and so often, as a 
crisis, has but a small place in any true philosophy. A crisis 
is but one stage, in a long train of antecedents and of conse- 
quents, which go to make it up ; and any one of which might 
seem to be the crisis. Events flow on, forever : as the Dela- 
ware flows on. The raft, that, for a moment, fills your eye, 
glides past ; and is succeeded by another, and another, and 
aoother. In a great country, such as ours is, men may al- 
ways find, or make, a crisis. It were better, not. The very 
name alarms. The alarm deranges and incapacitates. The 
motley host, th^- ? -: lose, make capital, of this disturb- 
ance of the gei.. _-Jibrium. A wiser judgment deals 

with time, and its results, as they roil on ; applies, to each, 
the wisdom, that it calls for, finds no fear, in all the future ; 
and, s: regret, in aU the past. But, still, it cannot be 

de: : we are fallen on an age of rapid progress, and 

01 ^.--.---r.vabie developemect. A day brings forth a na- 
tion. The womb of time teems now with strugglms em- 
pires. The inre-tions of men are fast annihilatmg space. 
= an isthmus. A paper barrier scarcely 
divides the Pacific, from the Atlantic, sea. Out of the sands 
of Calilbmia, the wonders of Aiaddin's fabled lamp are more 
than realized. Men are dLnurbed by golden visions. The 
channels of commerce are changing. The aspects of life 
are under transmutation. One knows not, what new won- 
der shall be bom, with each new day. An unsettling of 
fixed principles, a conflict of new interests, a general dis^p- 
tion and disarrangement, are rapidly, in progress. At such 
a time, a man of simple mind, a man of plain good sense, a 
man of moderation, a man of unquestionable integrity, a 



13 

man of indomitable firmness, has a s[iecial worth, and adap- 
tation. The people take to such a man. They call him, 
"Rough and Ready." They rally round him- They grow 
into him. They grow together, in growing into him. He 
binds them all, in one ; and is, what laws might fail to be, 
and fleets and armies could not be, the bond of an imperish- 
able union. There was another thing, in General Taylor. 
He was no party man. He would not be, to be the Presi- 
dent. When he became the President, he would not be, to 
magnify his office, or to keep it. It was a noble trait, in his 
great character, that he disappointed the party men, that 
helped to put him into power. He knew the people, and 
he knew the nation. But he knew no set, among the one ; 
no fraction, of the other. This -was an element of strength, 
that was to grow ; and that, more rapidly, with time. And 
there was one thing more, in him. We caimot shut our 
eyes, to the inevitable fact, that the great magnet of om: na- 
tion has opposing poles: or seems to have. It was the pe- 
cuUar fitness of General Taylor, for his responsible position, 
that he w^as of the one ; and, yet, not against the other. The 
one could trust him ; while the other need not tear him. I: 
seemed, to human sight, the strong hold of the times. And, 
in a moment, like the house, which a child builds, of cards, 
it has been swept away, from us. May it not be, to teach 
us to '• cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ?" 
May it not be our lesson, for these times, that " God seetb, 
not as man seeth?" May it not be the way, which we 
<' know not of," by which, God means to lead us ? Has not 
the death of the Chief Magistrate taught us, as argument 
could never teach, that we are one people? Has it not 
touched the general heart, from East to West, from North 



14 

to South, as children's hearts are touched, when, by their 
side, a father falls? Could legislation, could judicial action, 
could commercial interests, could any thing, have shown so 
clearly, so feelingly, so instantaneously, so universally, that, 
divided, as we may be, or may think we are, we are but 
one, in heart ? And, may there not proceed, from that new 
grave, in which the funeral rites of twenty millions garner 
up, to-day, the ashes of our patriot-soldier, an influence, 
which, knitting all our hearts together, as true brethren, of 
one blood, shall pervade our national councils, and control 
our national actions, and mould our national interests ; and, 
with God to bless us, as the answer to our penitent and 
faithful prayers, set up this nation, in the eyes of all man- 
kind, as the light and joy of all the lands : shedding, on all, 
the mild and genial radiance of free institutions ; and spread- 
ing, among all, the blessings and the benefits of Christian 
Freedom; the freedom, which, can only dwell with truth 
and peace ; the freedom of the freemen of the Lord ! That 
it may be so, it becomes us to receive, with an unhesitating 
confidence, the distinguished Statesman, who sits, now, in 
General Taylor's seat. By the immediate act of God, he is 
the President of the United States. Receiving him, at 
God's hand, let us receive him, with a generous trust. Let 
us resolve, to give him our support ; the support of our 
sympathy, the support of our confidence, the support of our 
co-operation, the support of our prayers. Let us commend 
him, and the counsellors, that are to share, with him, the 
cares and toils of State, to the favour, the guidance, the pro- 
tection, of Almighty God. Let us renew our vows, to-day, 
to the admirable Constitution, which our Father's vindi- 
cated, for us, with their blood. Let us renew our vows, to- 



15 

day, to the glorious Union, which their blood cemented, 
sealed, and consecrated. On our knees, let us join hands, 
here, in God's house, upon God's day, with the great multi- 
tude of Christian Freemen, whom the day's solemnities 
have knit in one. On our knees, let us join hearts, with 
them, here, in God's house, upon God's day ; and pour, 
from souls, which sorrow softens, and which grace subdues, 
the Christian Patriot's prayer, "that peace and happiness, 
truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established, 
among us, for all generations." 

Nor, let lis lose the lesson, which, as men, and sinners, 
this startling and afflictive providence is so well adapted to 
convey. How can we clasp our darlings, to our hearts, and 
not remember, how a moment may resolve them into dust, 
and leave us desolate ! How can we lie down, on our beds, 
this night, and not remember, that the morning light may 
find us, garnished, for the grave. The prayer, which asks 
from God, for the bereaved of this day, the strength and 
comfort of His grace, will be the commendation of our dar- 
lings to the favor of His love. And, the deep penitence, 
which such a death should waken in our hearts, so sudden, 
so startling, so appalling, will bring us to the Cross, where 
none can perish, through the Lamb, Who died for all. To 
Whom, one with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, three Per- 
sons, and one only God, shall ever be ascribed, the glory 
and the praise. 



2laf5toral Setter, 

TO THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY. 

J^^^roml Reverend i?/-e//u-m._. Regarding the death of Presi- 
nn^ ^ ' f ^"'T. "''''°"'' ^«'«"^"y' «"d our whole nation as 
nPvf'rt '" '^["''J''^ do not hesitate to request, that, on Sunday 
next, he seventh after Trmity, you will use the Prayer which fol- 
lows he ore the two final Prayers of Morning and Evening Service. 
We shall do well to humble ourselves, under the chaslenin| hand of 
Almighty God ; and to beseech liim, for IJis dear Son's sake, to par- 
don our manifold transgressions, and turn away His anger from us 
lest we perish. U prosperity have hardened the national heart : if 
we have been tempted to forget God our Saviour; in whatever way 
we have ofTended IJ.m, who holds the nations in IJis hands, this si^. 
nal Providence should be improved by us, in that humility ofspiri! 
and with that consecration of heart and life, which become us, as 
ransomed sinners, and with which, alone, we can come acceptably 
before Him through the propitiation of the Cross. Upon our hearts, 
thus softened and subdued. He will send down the blessincrs. and the 
com orts of His grace, and restore to us, His pardoning and preserv- 
ll^r^-^V.P""'"'^"'''"- ^^'^ bereaved household, of our late venera- 
ble Chief Magistrate, the honored successor to him, in the hi<.hest 
trust which men bestow, his associates, in the several depart- 
ments of the government, and the whole appalled and mournino! na- 
tion, to your faithful prayers, and to the mercy and f^n'or of God, I 
ana, affectionately, and faithfully, your^brother and servant in Christ, 
„. . , , , George VV. Doane. 

Riverside, July 19, 1850. Bishop of New Jersey. 



PRAYER. 

rrP l^V^ii"^^ ^°^' ^"d Heavenly Father, who hast taught us, in 
Ihy holy Word, that thou dost not willing afHict or grieve the chil- 
dren of men ; Look with pity, we beseech Thee, upon the sorrows 
of Ihy servants. In Thy wisdom, thou hast seen fit to visit us 
with trouble, and to bring distress upon us. Remember us, O Lord 
in mercy ; sanctify Thy fatherly correction to us ; endue our souls 
with patience under our affliction, and with resignation to Thy 
blessed will ; comfort us with a sense of Thy goodness ; lift up Thy 
countenance upon us, and give us peace ; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen, 

W46 














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